1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for providing an additional service of a user device. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for providing an intelligent service using an inputted character in a user device and executing a command corresponding to the character so as to provide related information.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, along with the development of digital technologies, various portable terminals capable of communicating and processing personal information while providing mobility for the user, such as a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), an electronic organizer, a smartphone, a tablet personal computer, and the like are being introduced. Such a portable terminal is reaching a mobile convergence phase by including functions that were previously provided exclusively by other terminals in addition to the traditional communication function of the portable terminal Representatively, the portable terminal may have various functions including a calling function such as a voice call and a video call, a message transmission and reception function such as a Short Message Service (SMS), a Multimedia Message Service (MMS) and an e-mail, an electronic organizer function, a photographing function, a broadcast replay function, a moving-image replay function, a music replay function, an Internet function, a message function, a Social Network Service (SNS), and the like.
In particular, the portable terminal may support various character inputs of a user by a character input function using a keypad (or a keyboard). For example, the portable terminal may support a character input in various functions such as a message, an e-mail, a messenger, Internet, or SNS, and the user may input various characters (e.g., a chatting characters, message writing characters, search word, etc.) by activating the keypad in the execution screen of the function executed when using various functions.
In such a portable terminal of the related art, a character corresponding to a key (button) selected by the user using a keypad is inputted. Hence, in such a portable terminal, only characters corresponding to the key selected by the user using the keypad are outputted. That is, only a simple designated character input function is being performed in the portable terminal. Furthermore, in such a portable terminal, an input is possible by only a language (e.g., a mother tongue, English, etc.) that is supported by an activated keypad, and thus when trying to perform an input for a language that is not supported, an input is possible only after searching for and installing a keypad that supports the language. Further, when the user tries to acquire various information (e.g., information on weather, movies, translation, search, etc.), a complicated user device operation must be performed to acquire the information. For example, when trying to check weather information while executing and using a certain function in the user device, the existing function under execution should be stopped, and thereafter an Internet function should be executed to be connected to a provider server (e.g., a Meteorogical Office server or a web server, etc.) that provides weather information. Then, when connected to the provider server, weather information may be provided by a procedure such as searching for the weather of a desired region in the connected provider server.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved apparatus and method for using a keypad of a user device.
The above information is presented as background information only to assist with an understanding of the present disclosure. No determination has been made, and no assertion is made, as to whether any of the above might be applicable as prior art with regard to the present invention.